Portable electronic devices have become very popular and are used for a variety of different applications. The widespread proliferation of such devices is due readily to rapid technological advances that have made portable electronic devices reliable and convenient to carry form place to place, but also the wide variety of applications that are available for using with them.
One example of a portable electronic device is a cell phone. A cell phone is basically a radio transceiver, which can communicate by one or more radio channels with a nearby base station antenna. Base stations of a cellular network, and there may be a large number of them, are often spread over a large geographic area. The base stations are themselves interconnected creating a large hierarchical communication network. The wireless connection simply gives the cell phone user contact with the telephone network to the same purpose as the wired phone connections in wireline phone systems.
Another type of portable electronic device is a personal digital assistant (PDA). PDAs are often electronic organizers, capable of handling functions such as calendaring, address book, and the creating and storage of various lists. Some PDAs also have communication capability, including wireless communication capability, so that they may send and receive data for the purpose of sharing the data, or simply backing it up.
Although both cell phones and PDAs have become popular for their principle applications, many also use the electronic controller resident in them in order to allow the users to play various games. These games are often written specifically for the type of device in which they are installed, and can range in complexity from simple to fairly elaborate. In some cases, a cell phone, PDA, or similar device that could be used to play games may also use the device's wireless communication capability to network with other players or with a central game server. In this environment, users may interact with each other during the course of the game.
Inevitably, portable electronic devices have evolved that are dedicated primarily, or even totally to use as game playing devices. A typical electronic gaming device (not shown) includes some form of user interface such as a keyboard or microphone or both, so that the user can enter commands and other instructions. The gaming device will also include a visual display, generally a liquid crystal display (LCD), and usually of a greater size than found in typical cell phones or PDAs. Internal components in a gaming device will include a controller for controlling the various interfaces and as well as performing the actual calculations involved in game play and other applications. An internal storage device is also present in order to save these instructions until they are needed. As mentioned above, in electronic gaming devices radio communications may be enabled in order that the game players may not only interact with each other, but also with a source of game applications that can be downloaded to the device.
While some specialized devices are still becoming popular, however, many portable electronic devices no longer function solely (or even primarily) as only a cell phone or only a PDA or only a gaming device. In fact, as rapidly improving technology permits more and more applications to be loaded on a single device, many electronic devices can easily perform all three functions. This convergence of utilization permits a user, or network subscriber, to carry a single portable device that can perform a great many functions instead of two or more dedicated devices.
Portable electronic devices that can be used for game play present a great number of advantages. The first, naturally, is mobility. A personal electronic gaming device can typically play from any given location, and assuming that a wireless channel is available, communicate with other players, or with a gaming network. Moreover, the portable electronic gaming device permits a player to continue game play while they are moving from one location to another, and possibly even while they are in active communication with other players. The portable electronic gaming device also permits the user to access a wide variety of different games, especially in cases where applications may be added, deleted, and even downloaded from a source while the user is in transit.
In addition to using whatever games are installed on an electronic gaming device, or downloaded through a communication network, users can take advantage of games stored on removable data storage media. Removable storage media, which include such devices as CDs, DVDs, and floppy disks, contain all of the instructions necessary for the gaming devices controller to execute a particular application. Frequently, the removable storage media is inserted into a suitable drive in the electronic gaming device, and remains there while the game is being played. In this way all of the instructions loaded onto the media need not be transferred into the internal storage media present in the gaming device. In addition to saving internal storage space, this helps to prevent theft. Game applications that can only be played when the removable storage media is installed prevent users from widely distributing unauthorized copies of the application while retaining a copy on their own gaming device. For users, however, this does not mean that electronic games cannot be shared. When a first user has finished executing (playing) a particular application, they may simply remove the storage device and give it to somebody else, who can insert it into their own electronic gaming device and begin play. Of course, users may carry with them a number of different game-bearing removable media so that wherever they go they have a selection of games to choose from.
Many such removable media devices today are quite small, or compact, and use digital storage techniques so that they have no moving parts. Because of their small size they are easily transportable, and it is convenient to carry a large number of them. Unfortunately, their compactness also means that they are more easily lost, and may, when placed in a purse or briefcase, slip into a location where they might be easily lost or damaged.
FIG. 1 is an isometric view illustrating a typical compact removable storage-media device 100. In this example, media 100 has a top 105, bottom 130, and sides 110, 115, 120, and 125. Note that these designations are arbitrary, and are made for convenience in illustration only. Together, the top, bottom, and sides form a housing for the internal solid-state components (not shown) that are capable of storing data. A plurality of electrical contacts 150 connected to the internal circuitry is positioned on the bottom 130 of media 100, in this embodiment proximate to side 110. As should be apparent, when inserted into an electronic device, side 110 is the leading edge and when the device is properly inserted, the contacts 150 of media device 100 form an electrical connection with corresponding contacts inside the electronic device (not shown), enabling electronic-signal communication between the electronic device and the media 100. In this illustration, a clipped corner 135 is present to make the device asymmetrical and more easily oriented properly for insertion into the gaming (or other) device. Note that media 100 is only one exemplary type of storage device that may be used with various embodiments of the present invention.
As mentioned above, although modern technology provides the ability to fabricate relatively sturdy removable storage-media devices such as media 100, they are still subject to damage, or to being misplaced because of their compact size. In addition, if contacts 150 become dirty, broken, or disconnected, the device may not work even if it is otherwise undamaged. In addition, if the contacts 150 are subjected to contact with other electrical devices or to static discharge, a spurious electrical signal may corrupt the data stored on media device 100. Needed therefore is an efficient and convenient storage case, or package for carrying one or more media such as media 100. The present invention provides just such a solution.